Into The Trees

Taking the fight to them

"Move Up!" Yelled Bert to his team. The raid on the NVA base had begun and the marines had already commenced the frontal assault. Bert began slowly walking through the jungle around the base to remain unseen. Ernie, Scooter, Mic, Samusé and Joe followed him. Bert noticed two NVA scouts ahead and raised his hand in a tight fist signalling for a halt. Bert transitioned to his sidearm which was Sanders' suppressed pistol. He aligned the sights of the gun with the head of one of the scouts. He squeezed the trigger resulting in a quiet pop and moved the gun to face the other man who hadn't noticed his fallen ally. He fired the pistol and saw as the remaining scout's body gracefully fell into the bush below him. Bert continued to walk. "Target wall." Said Samusé who was pointing at the wall the team was supposed to destroy. "Cover us." Said Joe. He and Mic began creeping to the wall. Mic unpacked a satchel charge from Joe's pack and placed it next to the wall. He grabbed the fuse and detonator and brought it into the foliage. "You might want to get behind something." Mic slammed down on the detonator and watched a large chunk of wall explode.

Bert jumped through the hole and pulled an M26 grenade from his belt and threw it at one of the Vietcong soldiers who were stunned by the blast, while Joe and Mic dashed through with their rifles raised. Bert signalled the rest of the group to advance. Joe spotted a squad of NVA troops rounding the corner. He dived towards the nearest piece of cover which happened to be a small barrier of sandbags. Joe aimed his rifle over the top and fired a burst at the squad but missed. He fired another burst and hit one of the soldiers in the shoulder. Ernie pulled a grenade off his webbing and removed the pin. The explosion of a nearby ammunition crate pushed Ernie backwards causing him to drop the grenade. "GRENADE!" Yelled Ernie. He began running away from the grenade until he was met with a deafening bang. The squad was momentarily blinded and a group of NVA soldiers surrounded him. As Bert received from the stunning effect of the grenade, he saw his squad being tied up. Bert felt a blunt pain on his jaw as a soldier slammed his AKM into Bert's face.

He was tied up with rope and dragged outside. He and his squad had their hands and legs tied together and were lined up against the wall but Scooter was nowhere to be seen. "Tải! mục đích!..." yelled one of the soldiers; they braced themselves, waiting for him to order the execution of him and his team. Bert watched as his teammates were blindfolded until he was blindfolded. "Ba!" Yelled the man who Bert guessed was the squad leader. "Hai!" He continued. "See you on the other side." Said Ernie to no one in particular. As Bert braced himself for the shots to begin firing at him, he heard a gunshot. Then another. Then four more in rapid succession. Bert winced as the bullets fired thinking that he led his men into death. Suddenly, his blindfold was removed and he was freed of his restraints. The first thing he saw was Scooter holding a PM Makarov pistol and a cluster of dead bodies. "Scooter!" Said Bert with relief. "Is everyone OK?" "Everyone's just fine," said Scooter. He helped Bert to his feet and Bert saw the large group of resistance fighters flooding through the wall. "Commander Bert, isn't that your name?" Asked a man with a Vietnamese accent. Bert turned and saw Ryce Fields. "Glad you showed up to the party." Ryce grabbed a piece of paper from his jacket, "These are the NVA's plans to take Saigon, we found them inside." Bert grabbed the plans and stared at them with a pained expression. "Ryce, get your men to take the central area. We'll take the elevated platform and assist your guys." Said Bert. Ryce nodded and began moving to the courtyard of the base.

The section was split into two teams. Bert, Mic and Joe. The other team was made from Ernie, Samusé and Scooter. Bert, Mic and Joe were going to attack the rear guard of the base whilst Ernie, Samusé and Scooter found the commanding officer in the interior of the building.

"Right here." Said Scooter as he stopped at a T-Junction in the hallway. Ernie nodded and walked into the right hallway. He was followed by Scooter and Samusé who covered Ernie's rear. As Ernie reached the middle of the hallway he watched as a group of NVA ran into the hallway. "Contact!" Yelled Ernie who was scrambling for cover. Samusé ran into an adjoining room and Scooter ducked down a different hallway entirely. "Enemy spotted!" Yelled one of the NVA soldiers. Ernie translated the phrase almost instantly. He took a grenade off his webbing and was preparing to throw it down the hallway until Samusé said: "Don't throw it. These hallways are narrow and we'll all get cooked if you throw that." Ernie nodded in agreement and returned the grenade to his webbing. The NVA army began blind firing from around the corner in an attempt to suppress Ernie and his group. Samusé started firing his M16 around the corner at the NVA soldiers striking one in the chest. Ernie peeked over the crate he was hiding behind and saw a man run across the path to reach his wounded ally but Ernie nailed him in the head with a single shot from his rifle. The last man started to run towards where Ernie was. He was carrying a grenade with the handle and pin missing from its rounded body. "Grenade!" Yelled Ernie. He shot the man in the chest and tried to catch the grenade in mid-air but was unable to. Samusé swiftly picked up the grenade and threw it into the room where he was a second prior and slammed the door shut. The bang shook the door. Ernie recovered from the shock. He saw the fallen NVA soldier reach for his handgun but Scooter made quick work of him with his rifle. "Is everyone OK?" asked Ernie. "He's not." Said Samusé who was running down the hallway to where the wounded soldier lay. He began to perform first aid work on the man. "I'll stay here until someone can come and detain him." Said Samusé " You guys go on." Ernie nodded to Scooter and the two proceeded down the hallway and up the stairs that were there.

They did a sweep of the officers' rooms until they found a room with a locked door. "I got this." Said Scooter. He took a shovel off of Ernie's backpack and used it to make a hole in the door. Ernie fed an armed grenade through the hole. Once the explosion had detonated, Ernie kicked down the door with a quick blow from his boot. "Down on the ground!" Yelled Ernie. A man emerged from a desk with a sidearm drawn. A bullet struck the wall behind Ernie. Ernie fired a bullet from his M16 into the man's neck causing it to spit blood on the desk and floors. Scooter walked past Ernie and grabbed a cowering officer off the ground and slammed his head into the table. Ernie walked up to him with his gun raised and yelled: "Don't move!" In Vietnamese. "What is your name?" He continued. "I'm Lieutenant Nguyen!" He said trembling. Ernie grabbed his sleeve and look at the rank slide which displayed the rank of a major general. "You're a Major General." Said Ernie. Scooter picked him up and slammed him against the wall. Ernie started looking around his office until he saw a book that said 'Major General Hoang'. "This is our guy," said Ernie. He picked up his radio handset and spoke into it: We got the guy. The second floor in the offices, come pick him up." Said Ernie.

Moments later, some military police walked into the room and said: "Nice work. The base is more or less secure if you guys want to head out." "Thanks," said Scooter. They worked their way down and found Samusé helping another medic put the wounded NVA soldier onto a stretcher. "Glad you guys made it." Said Samusé whose job had been taken over by a corpsman. "You too. It's safe now so let's find Bert and the others." After a small bit of wandering, they had found Bert and the rest of the team sitting outside eating and chatting to the other soldiers and resistance fighters. Bert was talking to an officer about something. Bert walked over to an ammo crate and stood on top of it.

"Gentlemen," he announced, "Today we shall start our march to Saigon!" he finished with the NVA plans in his hand. A cheer erupted amongst the resistance fighters and soldiers. They feasted on the food from the base's supply room, while Alastor told stories of the second world war.

"Are you Ross and Steve?" Asked Bert as he approached two USMC soldiers who were sitting on crates and eating soup out of their travel cups. It had gotten dark and most people were sleeping. "That would be us." said the taller man, putting down his cup. "I got word from headquarters that some promotions had come through. I would be promoted to Lieutenant and acting operations commander until they could find a replacement. My first decision in this position is to get you two promoted to Specialist. "Well thank you, sir." Said the other man. "It also comes with the bad news that companies Dog and Easy of the Marine Corps have no leader. I'd like you to lead Easy company in the coming battle," said Bert. "Of course. What's the plan?"